Think we'll get new special character models?

[arghbees]

With the preview of the new SM codex and all the chapters having dope new characters, I really hope GW release new plastic kits for Deathleaper and TRT. They look so outdated now, really puts me off using lictors

Does anyone like the old resin models? Perhaps hoping for brand new fancy named bioforms?

[Jbizzy]

Plastic lictor kit with some extra bits to make deathleaper would be great. But special characters will probably be expensive clam packs.

[royalecheez]

A new red terror rave we upgrade kit would be awesome too. I'm not crazy about his rules but he's been around since I started playing 40k way back in middle school. I've always loved him for some reason.

[slithernaut]

Maybe we will get a GW dual kit for some bugs in between the dules and hierophant.

There seems to be a lot of room in between them now.

My metal Licotrs and Death leaper look fine IMO.

[LordPathos]

When we say all chapters have dope new characters are we talking about the Primaris Marines?

[yoritomo]

I hope not. Uniqueness has no place in the tyranid army. And don't get me started on "bio-artifacts".

[Jbizzy]

Jul 23, 2017 4:17:51 GMT yoritomo said:

I hope not. Uniqueness has no place in the tyranid army. And don't get me started on "bio-artifacts".

I hate that they've kept the named characters too. I much prefer customized primes of a certain strain.

[zebra437]

I think it'd be cool that, instead of unique characters, we got 'sergeants' for some broods such as warriors, shrikes, raveners etc. 


Although a model + rules for some of the characters that they removed in previous editions would be nice.

[yoritomo]

Jul 23, 2017 4:39:38 GMT zebra437 said:

I think it'd be cool that, instead of unique characters, we got 'sergeants' for some broods such as warriors, shrikes, raveners etc. 


Although a model + rules for some of the characters that they removed in previous editions would be nice.

And should we model these "sergeants" with cute little uniforms as well?

[teodo]

I hope for:

Kits for lictors (+ deathleaper), red terror, old one eye, biovores and shrikes. That would fill up some missing holes at the moment (Although Deathleaper and red terror is there, they are old, especielly red terror!).
Also, a new ripper swarm would be nice, so you don't have to get the nice looking ones from FW only.

Other then that, they are welcome to do more stuff. I just think they should fill the gaps with the current missing miniature lines before this Especielly when it comes to OOE and shrikes.

[zebra437]

Jul 23, 2017 5:53:10 GMT yoritomo said:

Jul 23, 2017 4:39:38 GMT zebra437 said:

And should we model these "sergeants" with cute little uniforms as well?

Little top hats maybe?

[Jbizzy]

I wasn't thinking primes for each units, but primes instead of the named characters. TRT and OOE have the have the same bonus as the Tyranid prime, why bother with a unique name and some cheesy fluff...

[Overread]

Here I what I think we'll get

1) Duel kit for lictors/deathleapers - nothing wrong with the models but they are not in plastic and GW is clearly leaving finecast far away in the dust. And lets face it their current age plastics are really darn good! This also lets them cut two moulds from their line and have a single one. They might also do what they've done with the others and put them into a 3 unit boxed set.

2) Duel kit for Biovore/pyrovore - again like the one above; and again going for plastic and three in one boxed set.

Those two are almost for certain at this point in time and brings the Tyranid force fully into the plastic era, barring the Red Terror. Red Terror is clearly sticking around, but unlike Old One Eye who can be made from the carifex sprue, the Red Terror can't be made from the Ravenor kit. This suggests that we might see Old Red return as his own character model. He might even get a size upgrade (currently he is rather small to be swallowing units).

As for characters its an interesting aspect. I think Tyranids NEED character or unique or specialist troops because it allows diversity within the army in niches. It lets you put something new into the faction that isn't another multiple choice option; which means you can't "spam" it into armies. This lets them be more powerful than regular units. It's also an area where Tyranids have nearly always had very few options due to their Tyranid nature.
GW has clearly been addressing this with things like the Swarm Lord and the Prime Warrior etc...

That said when the Doom went away from the zoanthrope choices everyone complained and everyone liked building their own custom Doom whilst there wasn't a model. Clearly players like special units on the board. Fluff side we've had specialists for a long while, long enough that its clear the Hive can support them.


So yes after upgrading us to full plastic I'd expect to see potential in more character units. It's a great way to give us new models and flesh out the army without adding more. You have to remember Tyranids have a lot of diversity within very few units; most of our bigger-than-gaunt units can very easily be multi-role depending on how they are outfitted with weapons. And we've kind of already got most of the options - transports - close combat specialist - ranged specialists - artillery specialists etc... At this stage adding characters makes full sense to me .

Personally I'd also rather they add character units that are unique monsters not just "its a Carny but with more spikes!" kind of affair; as that lets us get more unique looking bugs rather than just the same bugs we've got now. Heck the mighty Swarmlord is basically your regular Tyrant with a duel pair of swords. Of course Forgeworld has potential do add things there; however they've long long had a bias toward mechanical things (heck Tyranids are an old army and yet have a tiny number of FW choices yet look at Tau and they've got a much large range of variety and options - including the £1K Manta


The other thing I'd like to see is an upgrade pack. Gaunt weapons, a few monstrous ones, wings for warriors etc.... And heck throw in some rippers (maybe some with wings) into a general sprue. Would be great to flesh out the faction without having to re-do sculpts or moulds for existing models.

I'd be surprised to see any resculpts at this stage; most of our troops are old sculpts but pretty darn solid in what they achieve. I've also a feeling that GW doesn't want to visually change our troop choices too much. It's one thing to visually change bigger units you might only have one to a handful of - but swarm armies its more of a pain especially if you make major changes to appearance.

[bobnid]

Since we’re lacking a winged option for the tyranid prime – could we at least get a character to fill that role? (Though a winged option would be REALLY great for the prime.)
The Parasite of Mortrex would be a nice addition as well, especially with reworked rules for “Implant Parasite” and “The Sarge is acting strangely”.

[Overread]

I'm also reminded of the Catachan Devil which is rumoured to potentially be an early form of Tyranid.

I would be fantastic to see splinter-fleets/lost-fleets or advanced scouts rise to the fore. Indeed they could easily do to Tyranids what they've done to Marines and many other factions by adding some unique units limited to specific "fleets" or splinter groups. A chance to add models without adding to the "core" and thus messing up core tyranid balance (or just bloating the army).

It would also let the GW creative team run wild with new appearances and variations of tyranid. We might even get some that throwback to the legacy appearances (the good old Zoats could even make a return!)